Events from the year 1740 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

: ''vacant''

Law officers

Lord Advocate , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Dorothy Bain QC.png , incumbent = Dorothy Bain KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , appointer = Monarch on the advice ...

– Charles Erskine *

Solicitor General for Scotland , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Ruth Charteris QC.png , incumbent = Ruth Charteris KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , department = Crown Office and ...

– William Grant of Prestongrange

Judiciary

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The L ...

– Lord Culloden *

Lord Justice General Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

– Lord Ilay *

Lord Justice Clerk The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. Originally ''clericus justiciarie'' or Clerk to the Court of Justiciary, the counterpart in the criminal courts of the Lord ...

– Lord Milton

Events

7 July Events Pre-1600 *1124 – The city of Tyre falls to the Venetian Crusade after a siege of nineteen weeks. *1456 – A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her execution. *1520 – Spanish '' conquistadore ...

–

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...

sets out from Scotland to take up a scholarship at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. * Hugh and Robert Tennent take over the

Wellpark Brewery Tennent Caledonian is a brewery based in Glasgow, Scotland. The Wellpark Brewery is situated in the city's East End, between the Townhead and Dennistoun districts along Duke Street. It was founded in 1740 on the bank of the Molendinar Burn ...

, originally known as the Drygate Brewery, in Glasgow. * General

George Wade Field Marshal George Wade (1673 – 14 March 1748) was a British Army officer who served in the Nine Years' War, War of the Spanish Succession, Jacobite rising of 1715 and War of the Quadruple Alliance before leading the construction of barra ...

is succeeded as Commander-in-chief in Scotland by Sir John Cope. * The 43rd Highland Regiment of Foot (the '

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...

') first musters, at Aberfeldy.

Births

* 28 March ''(bapt.)'' – James Small, inventor (died 1793) * 15 July –

Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton and 6th Duke of Brandon (15 July 1740 – 16 February 1819) was a Scottish peer and politician. Background and education Hamilton was the second son of the 5th Duke of Hamilton, by his third wife, Ann ...

(died

1819 Events January–March * January 2 – The Panic of 1819, the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States, begins. * January 25 – Thomas Jefferson founds the University of Virginia. * January 29 – Si ...

) *

29 October Events Pre-1600 * 312 – Constantine the Great enters Rome after his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, stages a grand '' adventus'' in the city, and is met with popular jubilation. Maxentius' body is fished out of the Tiber an ...

–

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 (New Style, N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the Englis ...

, diarist and biographer of Samuel Johnson (died 1795) * James Cannon, mathematician and a principal draftsman of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 (died in 1782 in the United States) *

William Davidson William or Bill Davidson may refer to: Businessmen * Bill Davidson (businessman) (1922–2009), Michigan businessman and sports team owner ** William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan, named in honor of Bill Davidson * William Davidson ...

, settler, lumberman, shipbuilder and politician in New Brunswick (died 1790 in Canada) * William Smellie, master printer, naturalist, antiquary, editor and encyclopedist (died 1795) *

Christopher Wyvill Christopher Wyvill (1740–1822) was an English cleric and landowner, a political reformer who inspired the formation of the ''Yorkshire Association'' movement in 1779. The American Revolutionary War had forced the government of Lord North to ...

, cleric, landowner and political reformer in England (died

1822 Events January–March * January 1 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus. *January 3 - The famous French explorer, Aimé Bonpland, is made prisoner in Paraguay accused of being a spy. ...

)

Deaths

* 2 February –

John Simson John Simson (1667–1740) was a Scottish "New Licht" theologian, involved in a long investigation of alleged heresy. He was suspended from teaching as Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow for his later life. Life He was born ...

, heterodox theologian (born 1668?) * 22 May –

John Boyle, 2nd Earl of Glasgow John Boyle, 2nd Earl of Glasgow (April 1688 – 22 May 1740) was a Scottish nobleman. Origins Boyle was the eldest son and heir of David Boyle, 1st Earl of Glasgow, by Margaret, daughter of the Hon. Patrick Lindsay (second son of John Lindsay, 1 ...

(born

1688 Events January–March * January 2 – Fleeing from the Spanish Navy, French pirate Raveneau de Lussan and his 70 men arrive on the west coast of Nicaragua, sink their boats, and make a difficult 10 day march to the city of Oco ...

) *

8 September Events Pre-1600 * 617 – Battle of Huoyi: Li Yuan defeats a Sui dynasty army, opening the path to his capture of the imperial capital Chang'an and the eventual establishment of the Tang dynasty. *1100 – Election of Antipope Theodo ...

–

William Bruce, 8th Earl of Kincardine William Bruce, 8th Earl of Kincardine (died 8 September 1740), the son of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Kincardine and Rachel Paunceforth, became the 8th Lord of Torry and the 8th Earl of Kincardine in 1740. His wife was Janet Roberton, the daughte ...

The arts

* 1 August – the patriotic song "

Rule, Britannia! "Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the 1740 poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in the same year. It is most strongly associated with the Royal Navy, but is also used by the ...

", with words by Scottish-born poet James Thomson, is first performed at

Cliveden Cliveden (pronounced ) is an English country house and estate in the care of the National Trust in Buckinghamshire, on the border with Berkshire. The Italianate mansion, also known as Cliveden House, crowns an outlying ridge of the Chiltern H ...

, the English country home of

Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fath ...

References

{{Years in Scotland , state=collapsed Years of the 18th century in Scotland

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

1740s in Scotland